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The Acts of the Apostles 14

14 At Iconium, Paul and Barnabas went as usual into the Jewish meeting place. There they spoke very powerfully about the Lord Jesus. As a result, very many Jews and non-Jews believed in Jesus. 2 But some of the Jews refused to believe that message. They made some of the non-Jews angry and bitter toward the people who had put their trust in Jesus. 3 But Paul and Barnabas spent a long time there speaking boldly about Jesus. Jesus enabled them to do many miracles. In this way, he showed people the truth of the message that God saves us even though we do not deserve it.

4 The people who lived in Iconium had two different opinions. Some agreed with the Jews. Others agreed with Paul and Barnabas. 5 Then the non-Jewish people and the Jews who opposed Paul and Barnabas talked among themselves about how they could mistreat Paul and Barnabas. Some of the important men in that city agreed to help them. Together, they decided that they would kill Paul and Barnabas by throwing stones at them. 6 But Paul and Barnabas heard about their plan. They quickly went away to the district of Lycaonia. They went to the cities of Lystra and Derbe in that district and to the surrounding area. 7 While they were in that area, they continually told the people the good news about Jesus.

8 In Lystra, they saw a man who was sitting down because he was crippled in his legs. When his mother gave birth to him, he had crippled legs, so he had never been able to walk. 9 He listened as Paul was speaking about Jesus. Paul looked directly at him and could see in the man’s face that he believed that Jesus could make him well. 10 So Paul shouted out to him, “Stand up straight!” When the man heard that, his legs became strong. He immediately jumped up and began to walk around.

11 When the crowd saw Paul heal the crippled man, this made them think that Paul and Barnabas were the gods that they worshiped. So they shouted excitedly in their own Lycaonian language, “Look! The gods have made themselves look like people and they have come down from the sky to help us!” 12 They began to say that Barnabas was probably the chief god, whose name was Zeus. And they began to say that Paul was Hermes, the messenger for the other gods. They believed this because Paul was the one who had been speaking. 13 People worshiped Zeus at a temple just outside the gates of the city. The priest who was there heard what Paul and Barnabas had done, so he came to the city gate, where many people had already gathered. He brought bulls with wreaths of flowers around their necks. The priest and the crowd of people wanted to kill the bulls as part of a ceremony to worship Paul and Barnabas. 14 But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard about that, they were very upset. They tore their own clothes to show that they did not want the people to sacrifice to them. They rushed among the people, shouting, 15 “People of Lystra, you must not kill those bulls to worship us! We are not gods! We are human beings who are just the same as you! We have come to tell you some good news about the one true God. You can stop worshiping other so-called gods, because they cannot help you. This true God made the sky, the land, the oceans, and everything that lives in them. 16 In the past, God allowed the non-Jewish people groups to worship whatever gods they wanted to worship. 17 Even so, God showed you non-Jewish people that he is a good God. He sent rain to make your crops grow. He gave you plenty of food so that you could enjoy your lives.” 18 Paul and Barnabas said all these things to the people. Even so, it was very difficult for them to keep the people from sacrificing those bulls to worship them.

19 Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and convinced many of the people of Lystra that Paul had not been telling them the truth. The people who believed what those Jews said became angry with Paul. They let those Jews throw stones at him until he fell to the ground. They all thought that he was dead, so they dragged him outside the city and left him lying there. 20 But some of the believers in Lystra came and stood around Paul, where he was lying on the ground. Suddenly Paul stood up! He went back into the city with the believers.

The next day, Paul and Barnabas left the city of Lystra and traveled to the city of Derbe. 21 In the city of Derbe they spent several days telling the people about Jesus. Many people there became believers. After that, Paul and Barnabas started on their way back home. They went again to Lystra. Then they went from there to Iconium. Then they went to the city of Antioch in the province of Pisidia. 22 In each place, they urged the believers to keep trusting Jesus. They told the believers, “We suffer many hardships in this world when we are allowing God to rule over us.” 23 Paul and Barnabas chose leaders for each congregation. Before they left each place, they gathered the believers together and spent some time praying and fasting. Then they entrusted the leaders and other believers to Jesus, in whom they had believed, in order that he would care for them.

24 After Paul and Barnabas had traveled through the district of Pisidia, they went south to the district of Pamphylia. 25 In that district, they arrived at the town of Perga. They preached God’s message about Jesus to the people there. Then they went down to the seacoast at the town of Attalia. 26 There they got on a ship and went back to the city of Antioch in the province of Syria. The people there had chosen Paul and Barnabas to go to other places and preach. That was where the believers had asked God to help Paul and Barnabas do the work that they had now completed. 27 When they arrived in the city of Antioch, they called the believers together. Then Paul and Barnabas told them all that God had helped them to do. Specifically, they told them how God had enabled many non-Jewish people to believe in Jesus. 28 Then Paul and Barnabas stayed in Antioch with the other believers for a long time.

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